Word: shahs
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...used to kill their sons and husbands were provided to Saddam Hussein by the U.S. and Europe. "Every strike against our country has come from the United States," says Azam Omrani, 63, whose son Amir died in the war. From the CIA-led coup in 1953 that reinstalled the Shah to the millions of dollars Washington spends on covert operations and propaganda against their government today, Iranians believe the U.S. has interfered in Iran's internal affairs. The effect has been to create a siege mentality even among those Iranians who don't support the government. "You go outside...
...heroes like Khomeini, Ahmadinejad and Lebanese Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah--that constitute a kind of state-sponsored Islamic pop culture. Such a culture sustains the Basij movement, which is itself part of the way the government tries to channel a generation that grew up with no memory of the Shah into continued support for the revolution. "Basij is not an organization only--it's a spirit," says Mariam Saemi, 22, a student at Tehran University. "The purpose is to fight against oppression everywhere in the world. The reason we are against Zionism is that the Zionist regime oppresses people...
...many Iranians, the revolution of 1979 was a declaration of independence from years of meddling by the Western powers who had been instrumental in installing and propping up the Shah's regime. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the opportunity to reaffirm a nationalist message, even as he addressed the recurring theme of Iran's relationship with the U.S. and its allies...
...rally, at once gaudy and solemn, marked the culmination of weeks of celebrations that have seen streets bedecked with posters of Khomeini, TV and radio broadcasts of songs with lyrics such as "When the demon [the Shah] leaves, the angel [Khomeini] enters," and endless interviews with heroes of the struggle against the Shah's regime. (See images of the rise and fall of the Shah of Iran...
...Many in the crowd were willing to echo the President's sentiments. A retired air-force member, 68-year-old Ali Amir-Hosseini, vividly remembered the Ayatullah's return. "We staged a strike and were one of the first brigades to stop collaborating with the Shah's regime," he said, adding, "Back then, we had little pride. We really felt like the stooges of the U.S. Today, we are a proud people. At last we determine our own fate and the bigger powers just don't know how to deal with us." Then he asked a bystander listening in where...